Why not me?
by katamuro11
Summary: A romantic/adventure with an inserted character Evan, what kind of trouble can two tomb raiders can get into? And out? Pre Rise of the Tomb Raider. Mature themes but nothing explicit.
1. Chapter 1

Lara hesitated as she reached for the handle. The door she was about to open lead to her past, not so distant past but a past she was not fully ready to confront. Taking a breath she steadied herself but she still felt slightly light headed as if breathing air that was too thin. With a twist of the handle the door opened and she walked in.

The office behind the door was a picture of what most would have thought of as an office of a history professor. History books, reference files, pictures and various antique bits and bobs laying around. At the far end of the room opposite the windows stood a table a small island of order in the sea of chaos. Apart from a computer and a picture frame the table was clear of anything else. Behind the table, in front of a computer sat the man she had come to see. Hearing her enter he raised his head and when he saw her his eyes showed his surprise even as the rest of his face did not. Standing up too quickly he hit his knee against the table knocking the picture frame down and making the computer screen sway dangerously.

"Lara?" he said his deep voice making it both a statement and a question, rubbing his knee absent minded.

"Hi, Evan." she said, suddenly she felt twenty again and unsure of what it is she supposed to say, she looked at him again and could not help but smile. He hadn't changed so much in these three years. He still had that air of being focused on whatever was in front of him to detriment of everything else, this time it was her and she knew that the force of his knee hitting the table hasn't yet registered consciously with him so he was rubbing it simply because he had felt the impact and not the pain.

"It is good to see you Lara, I tried to see you in hospital but I couldn't get in." he said now standing just a few steps from her, his large frame towering over her. At her own five foot six it wasn't that hard but Evan was six foot three and nearly as broad in the shoulders as she was tall and the sleeves of his white shirt strained to contain the powerful arms that she had know so well.

"I know, I..." how she could explain to him why she had not wanted to see him and not hurt him, she had needed time to herself, time to gather up those pieces of self control she had felt scattering after they had made it back to safety after Yamatai. She knew that if she had seen him then the only thing she would have wanted to do was to feel those arms of his around her again and cry like the English rain. Unrelentingly for days. She averted her eyes and looked at the picture frame, it had fallen face up making it easy for her to see the picture in it. It was a picture of two of them taken on a dig on a Greek island that they had been part of as students in the university. It had been taken in their free time and she was wearing a sleeveless brown t-shirt and shorts, it was too hot to wear much of anything else. Holding her from behind was Evan. Both of them were smiling broadly a cliff behind them. It had been one of the best summers she could remember. Days filled with the possibility of discovery, even minute ones and nights spent with a man she loved.

"You still have that?" she said instead of whatever excuse she was going to say before, pointing at the photo.

"I do. What can I do for you?" he said with a sigh. He knew her well enough to know that this was not a social call.

"I need your help getting somewhere." Lara said recognising the tone of his voice, she knew he was frustrated with her and he had every reason to be but he would help her if he could despite the hard feelings he might have.

"I know you have friends in Cuba, I hoped you could help me get there." He looked at her for a moment deciding something and then walked around behind the desk again and sat down.

"I take it you want to have as little government oversight and as much freedom of movement as possible?" he said taking out a notebook from a drawer, she recognised it. She had in fact given it to him as a gift after his phone had died again taking most of his contact numbers with it.

"Yes, I think I can find a local to guide me on my own." she said

"Ok, let me call some people and see what they tell me. Can you wait me in the cafeteria, it will take a while and the coffee they serve there is not that bad." he said making it clear the conversation is finished. Lara walked towards the door, took a last look at Evan as he punched a number into the phone and walked out.

Forty minutes later Evan walked into the cafeteria, he found Lara quickly enough. She had as always taken a seat next to a window. She was watching the rain, a coffee cup in her hands and a mostly eaten sandwich in front of her. She was drawn, even called upon by the world outside. While he could have easily spent days inside pouring over old texts. She was only a few months younger than him and yet he saw the weariness in her eyes, the kind that you see in people who have seen too much, done too much. He knew the look well, had seen it in the mirror often enough. He remembered it well, that drive of hers that made her go to UCL and finance it with multiple jobs, the drive that made her go on that ill-fated expedition to Yamatai. He loved her for it and yet he also resented it, after all it had been that drive that put her in danger. That made him think she had died. Their last words to each other were not kind, it was the kind of stupid, senseless argument that you get to have when you are young, in love and still think in absolutes. He could not remember the cause of it or the words they had used but she left to "cool off" as she had said and then she disappeared at sea. In his grief, blaming himself he had decided to go and see what was it in the world that drawn her so much.

He had thrown himself into every kind of adventure that he had come across. Mysterious ruins in the Amazon? Check. Possibility of what could be the oldest tomb in Egypt? Check. Remnants of an island civilisation gone missing in Pacific? Check. He had expected there to be lack of comfort, lack of funding, some difficulty with the locals. What he didn't expect was to be on the run from the locals who turned out to be either some kind of old cults, terrorists or pirates. Or a curious mix of all three that produced such a volatile cocktail that he wasn't surprised when they blew themselves up, along with the whatever ancient ruin they were occupying at the moment. This time, he promised to himself it's going to be different. He was older, smarter, maybe even wiser.

"The documents will be ready in the morning and I managed to even get a good local guide, the kind that won't sell you out if offered more." he said and squashed the urge to lean down and kiss her as she looked up at him.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." she said and took a sip of her coffee and cringed. It had gone cold and while hot this coffee was indeed not bad as Evan had said, cold it was quite a bit less palatable. Putting the coffee cup down she stood up and put on the leather jacket that she hard draped over her chair.

"Do you have a place to stay?" Evan said before she could pick up her backpack. He had one like it, a go bag, holding essentials you needed while travelling into places that didn't have beds or roofs.

"I will get a hotel room." she said shouldering the bag

"There is no need, my place is big enough for both of us. I have a good shower and I have learned a few new recipes. Iris won't mind." Evan said trying to sound nonchalant as if he gets to invite former lovers to his home after not seeing them for years all the time.

"Iris?" she asked

"You will see." he said a slight smile creasing the corners of his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

Stepping into Evan's apartment she noted that indeed it was large enough. The apartment was a conversion from an old factory building. But while the lower floors held various offices the top floor had been converted into several apartments. Evan had the one on the corner of a building offering excellent view of the city in two directions from its large windows. Apart from the bathroom the whole apartment was one large room, the bedroom space divided from the rest by a Chinese screen, authentic from the looks of it, the kitchen was modern and the kind of brushed metal industrial look that suited the bare red brick of the walls.

"Iris, say hi to Lara." Evan said, the question of who was Iris had bothered her the whole trip from the university where Evan worked to his apartment. She had prepared herself intellectually that he had moved on with his life, found another women he could love but that didn't change the fact that even the thought of someone else sharing his bed made her feel as if someone had reached in and was slowly squeezing her heart.

"Welcome home Evan, Hi Lara." a disembodied female voice said out of nowhere.

"Say hello to Iris Lara." Evan said amusement in his eyes even as his tone was serious.

"Hello Iris." Lara said addressing the room

"It is good to see you bring someone home Evan, for a man of your age to have a single female visitor ever since my logs began eighteen months ago is not healthy."Iris said and Lara could see Evan's ears reddening a bit. His control over his facial expressions was spectacular but even he could not control involuntary responses like that. Had it really been eighteen months for him? Not that it had been any better for her. She had been too busy before going to Yamatai and after it too much had changed.

"Oh shut up, you know sooner or later I will find what my sister did to make you so chatty and disable it. Just give me a status report." Evan said annoyed

"Everything is nominal Evan. shall I heat up dinner?" Iris said

"No that's ok, I have a guest today as you have pointed out so I will be cooking something fresh." Evan said

"That is an excellent choice Evan despite your many flaws your cooking is not one of them." Iris said

"What is Iris?" Lara asked

"Iris is Interactive Robotic Intelligent System, basically she is a smart house system integrated with security and a digital assistant. Unfortunately for me, my sister who had installed it had also managed to make it misbehave on occasion." Evan said both proud that his sister had been smart enough to do that and annoyed that she decided to exercise her intelligence in such manner.

"I do not misbehave. I only do what my programming tells me to." Iris chimed in, Lara could not believe it but there definitely was a teasing inflection in her voice.

"Fine, fine. Activate quiet mode." Evan said

"Quiet mode activated" Iris replied.

"Now let me cook you something new, what are you in the mood for, spicy, sweet, filling or light?" he said throwing his raincoat onto a hanger and walking over to the kitchen part of the apartment.

"Light?" Lara said putting down the bag on the floor next to the door where she saw a similar backpack and hanging her jacket next to Evan's. The knowledge that Evan had not been seeing other women made Lara feel better. She knew that she should not feel the relief deep inside her but could not help it. An hour later Lara was finished her meal. Evan had been a good cook when she left and two years had only improved his skills so while the dish itself was unfamiliar to her, it tasted excellent and the conversation never strayed far from topics they both could safely talk about. Archaeology, questions about mutual friends and of course the weather a topic anyone who has lived in United Kingdom knows is truly endless.

"You must tell me where this recipe comes from, its unlike anything I have tasted so far." Lara said and picked up her glass of wine. She had wanted to refuse alcohol at first but after seen the bottle could not, Evan had remembered what had been her favourite and it complimented the meal well.

"I picked it up from the locals on one small island in South Pacific, I improvised of course with the local ingredients but overall I think I preserved the flavour of the original. Will you tell me what you are looking for in Cuba?" Evan said sipping his own wine, he had never much cared for wine in general but he had to admit that Lara had excellent taste in it.

"A grave of a conquistador Miguel Ni Benimeda. He should have been buried with an item that could point me towards a great discovery. A silver statuette of cat with engravings. The conquistadors assumed it was made by the Aztec's but they had no way of knowing Aztecs could not work silver that well. The descriptions make it clear that it was not Aztec in origin, or any of the known Mesoamericans." Lara said

"So what is this great discovery that it is going to point you towards?" he asked

"I can't say. I am not sure if I believe it myself yet. I will tell you if I find it but right now I have no proof, just a theory." Lara said swirling the wine slowly with a move of her wrist and watching it reflect the diffuse light best described as romantic. She was sure Evan had not set it that low, in fact she knew for a fact it was brighter when they started. Whatever his sister had done to the programming of Iris, it was clearly far more than to simply cause a bit of mischief.

"I hope you do. I would like to hear from you more often." Evan said and only the distracted look Lara had stopping him from saying something more.

"It's late so why don't I clean up here and you take the shower first?" he said and stood up finishing his wine in one go, not wishing for this feeling of quiet comfort to fade into awkward silence.

"Thank you." Lara said and mirrored Evan's actions.

As she closed the door to the bathroom Evan had to remind himself that they had in fact not seen each other in two years, that they had not been lovers for equally as long and that their parting had been less then gentle so he can't just walk in and join her in the shower even if this one actually was large enough for both of them. Lara was glad she accepted Evan's invitation, she had not felt so relaxed in a long time, a very long time and the food, the wine, the conversation which had not demanded anything of her. And Evan was right, the shower was good. Water pressure was excellent, the controls made it possible to adjust nearly anything and it was huge. In fact it was large enough to fit both of them comfortably unlike the showers they had at university when they studied there. Memories of the past mixed with the possibilities of the present and Lara had to momentarily switch the shower to cold. Only when she finished and stepped out of the shower she noticed that she had in fact nothing to wear. She had stripped all of her clothes off and put them into the washer/dryer that Evan had in the corner of the bathroom. She had spent after all the best part of two days in them, first hiking through the mountains in Spain, trying to get to that monastery which had provided her of the knowledge where the resting place of Miguel Ni Benimeda was located and then the rest of it in badly air-conditioned public transport. Walking over to the wall mounted rack with towels she found the largest one and tied it around herself. Considering how little Evan had changed he should have a stash of women's clothes somewhere. Evan liked to be prepared so he had always kept the essentials around in case his sister or Lara needed a change of clothes.

Walking out of the bathroom she saw Evan sitting on the sofa and reading something his back towards her. Lara had a retained her love of books from childhood but it didn't come close to Evan's. In fact they met because of their love for books, both of them were reading while walking and they collided with each other. And considering the physics, Evan having 8 inches on her and twice her weight she was the one to lose balance and start fall but Evan was quick and he managed to grab Lara before she fell.

"You can use the shower now." she said as she walked up to Evan, who hearing that stood up and faced her. Then his neutral expression changed to the one of pain and he gently put his hands on her upper arms. Firmly and yet gently as if he was holding a baby he covered the series of tiny scars on her upper arms and shoulders. They were not visible usually, not like the one on her side where a piece of rebar had impaled her but after the hot shower and the vigorous scrub she had given her skin the white lines of the scars, each less than a millimetre wide and no longer than half an inch stood out starkly against her skin.

"Is that from Yamatai?" he asked using his thumb to follow one that run across her clavicle.

"Yes" she simply said with two urges warring inside her, one that wanted simply to drop the towel covering her and have Evan take her into his arms and the other one that wanted to bury herself in the largest, most comfortable blanket she could find and sob. But she did neither of those things.

"Do you still have the clothes I could change into? Mine are in the washing machine." she said and he released her realising how suggestive his action was.

"Sure there at the bottom of the wardrobe is a box, it should have everything you need." he said and hurried into the bathroom. Evan's selection of clothes was as sparse as she could remember and he still had the gaudy Hawaiian shirt that she had bought for him on a Bank Holiday sale. He had dared her that she would never be able to buy something so tasteless while being so posh and British and she had dared him to actually wear it when she did. It had been embarrassing to buy it but it was far more so to walk next to Evan who was proudly wearing it. As Evan said at the bottom of the wardrobe there was a box with clothes and Lara quickly dressed. The clothes were simple but of good quality and everything was her size. There were even a pair of trainers her size in there. Hearing the shower still going strong she walked up to the coffee table where the primary terminal for IRIS was embedded and decided that a few questions wouldn't hurt.

"Iris, is Evan involved with someone romantically?" she asked feeling a more than a little silly talking to what basically was a smart computer.

"No Lara, his last romantic interest that can be traced through his phone or email is one Lara Croft and through facial recognition there is 97% chance that you are her." Iris replied

"Thank you Iris. Switch to quiet mode again." Lara said and stood up just as the bathroom door opened and Lara saw Evan walk out.

"It seems I forgot a change of clothes too." he said embarrassed. She had taken the biggest towel so he had to make due with the one that only covered him from waist to above the knee. Which gave Lara a good look at his upper body. She wondered if her face was displaying the horror she was feeling and it must have been because of what Evan said next.

"Yeah, turns out that terrorists don't believe you when you tell them you are there for the ancient catacombs they have been using as a base and not them and apparently no one has told them that torture is not the best way of extracting truthful information." he said and brushed his hand against his right shoulder and upper torso where a series of long jagged lines stretched at least ten inches long in a criss-cross pattern.

"And this." she said as she found herself standing close enough to touch his left arm where several small circular burns had healed.

"South East Asian pirates are actually quite vicious, take care to not insult their feelings of self-importance by implying that you are not actually a rich British businessman. They seemed to not take kindly to the fact that they have made a mistake and captured the wrong guy to ransom." he said and Lara moved her hand to his abdomen where a long, precise scar run across it from the bottom of his rib cage to his navel.

"Ah, well the guy who was running an Aztec apocalypse cult was a former surgeon so his hand was steady, his obsidian knife sharp and he had wanted to leave as little damage as he could to the body that would become the vessel of his god." he said and then covered her hand with his.

Lara had not known that Evan had done any of that, she did read the articles he had published but while they did indeed contain new information about Aztecs, ancient Egypt and some other places they were as academically dry and precise as any she had ever read. There was no hint of anything closely sensational or adventurous about them. She was also reminded that he was standing in only a towel and she was standing in a sleeveless shirt and panties and nothing else. She was after all planning to go to sleep. But Evan did not give her more time to reflect on the possibilities of the current position, he took her other hand in his own kissed her each hand briefly.

"Despite you renouncing your inheritance and running around the dirtiest places on Earth you are still Lady Croft." he said and instead of answering the old taunt of his she kissed him deeply with the longing she had not allowed herself to feel. She felt him answer before she had to break it off to breath.

"I love you so don't do this unless you mean it." Evan said and looked straight into Lara's eyes .

"I know." Lara said and taking his hand led him to the bed. Tomorrow she would be on a plane flying over the ocean going away from him and the feelings he woke in her but for now she was here in this moment and if the one thing that Yamatai had thought her was that it was better to do something and regret it than to regret not trying to do something. Hours later falling asleep she knew she won't be dreaming of Yamatai tonight. Not because she was too exhausted to dream, she was but this was a far more pleasant exhaustion than she has known in years. Not because she simply had not enough time to dream or because the drugs were preventing them like in the hospital. No this time she simply felt right. With his arms around her, his steadily beating heart and breathing she felt herself drift away.


End file.
